WAC Pack
"WAC Pack" is the sixth episode of Season One, and the sixth overall episode of Orange is the New Black. Synopsis The inmates campaign along racial lines for positions on a prisoners' council, but Piper tries to stay out of the increasingly raucous competition. Plot Present In Caputo's office Fig is angry that a colleague emailed her picture of a vagina that came from Litchfield. She doesn’t want the press to get hold of this information. The fact that there is a picture in prison means an inmate snuck in a cell phone or a C.O. is secretly taking inappropriate pictures of inmates. In another office Healy holds a flyer of the vagina that has been doctored as a wanted poster with a moustache and hat. As Healy walks, Yoga Jones complains to him about needing her yoga space back, the religious folks and the AA meetings are messing up her zen. Pennsatucky complains that her group needs the chapel back too. Crazy Eyes asks Mr. Healy to take a look in her pants saying, “I think it might be the flu”. Healy ignores them all and angrily heads to his office. Taystee bursts in complaining that the methheads keep watching Toddlers and Tiaras. She is sick of it and doesn’t support sexualizing young girls. She spots the vagina flyer on Healy’s desk and says he is into some "dirty shit." He hides it, and gives her control of the TV to get her out of his hair, instructing her to leave him alone for 48 hours. Taystee enters the TV room with a remote and switches the station to Planet Earth. Piper ’s mom Carol is visiting her. Carol says she saw Polly who told her about the chicken incident and says she should apologize to Polly. Piper says she’s been trying to apologize but Polly won't answer her calls. Carol asks if Piper is losing her mind; Piper insists she is not going crazy, but she is “surrounded by crazy.” Carol says Alex is the reason she is in prison and Piper says Alex is the least of her problems. She explains that she is no different from anyone else at Litchfield and says, “I made bad choices, I committed a crime, and being in here is no one's fault but my own.” Carol believes that Piper wouldn’t have ended up in prison if she went to trial and that she is nothing like the other women in there: she was a debutante and a jury would have seen that. After their meeting is over, Nicky tells Piper she looks like her mom to which Piper says she prefers to be in denial about the shared genetics. Nicky says she’s in denial about a lot, and Piper says that is what WASPs do. Piper asks if Nicky is waiting for someone. Nicky says it has been 4 months since she’s had a visitor, and Piper assures her that her visit wasn’t great anyway. Nicky tells Piper to be grateful that her mother showed up, bought her pretzels, and hugged her. In the yard, Daya marches up to her mother and slaps her, calling her a slut for trying to seduce Bennett. Gloria tells Daya to respect her mother but Daya shouts that she never acted like a mother. Meanwhile. Piper continues to call Polly but keeps getting her voicemail. In his office, Caputo grills all the C.O.s about the picture/cell phone. O’neill just sits there eating, Wanda Bell thinks Mendez looks guilty adding that guys with moustaches always look like they just fingered a little girl. When asked about the incident, Mendez sighs and says no. Bennett also denies seeing any cameras or having inappropriate relationship with an inmate. Caputo says the women at Litchfield are hungry for sex so even a smile could land him in trouble. The new C.O. Susan Fischer enters, and he gives her a warm welcome and shows her the vagina flyer. In the TV room, Maritza and Flaca listen to music. Flaca doesn’t like reggaeton and wishes the radio would play The Smiths. Martiza says Flaca was born in 1992 so she wouldn’t know anything about a Smiths song being an 80s anthem and calls it pussy music. Poussey is sick of Planet Earth and wants to watch the Food Network. Taystee says it doesn’t matter what Poussey wants because she’s president of the TV, pronouncing her name like ‘pussy’. Poussey corrects it and says she’s named after a place in France where her father was stationed, criticizing Taystee’s name teasing that she is named after cream filled cakes. Big Boo, Norma, and Lorna are playing cardboard Scrabble. Lorna helps Norma suggesting she add an ‘S’ to ‘knife’ to make ‘knifes’ and put ‘slut’ going down. Big Boo scolds her saying this is cheating and points out that the plural of knife is knives. Lorna says knifes is also a word because Tony knifes Bernardo in West Side Story. Big Boo gets angry at her and tells her to go back to planning her wedding. She also asks if Lorna is planning to get her dress on eBay saying, “I hope nobody scams you, that would be fucking ironic”. She has insinuated that Lorna is likely in prison for being involved in an ebay scam. With these three groups of people all yelling at one another in the TV room, Healy enters and tells them they need to start acting like ladies. He also adds that he is going to bring back the Women’s Advisory Council (WAC) if anyone wants to run. Taystee is excited at this prospect. In the cafeteria, Lorna tells her friends that she is running for WAC and may use her wedding colors for her posters, adding that Red asked her to run. Nicky is surprised that Red picked her and says she thinks a real lesbian should have been the one. To run Alex is confused because she thought the two were sleeping together. Nicky says they are done and that Lorna is working on tightening her vagina because her fiancées penis is so small it is like a hot dog in a hallway. Taystee is standing up on a table, the black inmates cheering her on. Piper thinks Lorna may have a hard time running against Taystee but Lorna explains that you only vote within your group. Lorna will only run against the other white ladies and her competition is Pennsatucky, but Red will get everyone to vote for her. Nicky tells Piper to just think of it like segregation in the 1950's. Each group, the whites, blacks, Hispanics, golden girls, and others each elect a representative and those 5 ladies meet with Healy to tell them what each group wants. Piper says that is flawed because not every Hispanic person wants the same thing. Lorna says “they all want to come to America” which Nicky criticizes saying Lorna’s entire world view is based on West Side Story. Alex is entertained by Lorna’s racist views and wants her to say more. Lorna explains her neighborhood has a large Hispanic population and that they have tons of kids, the food smells nasty, they are greasy, they like women with big breasts and butts, and they are taking all the jobs. Sophia is also running for WAC; Taystee says she’s a man with a plastic vagina. Sophia is serious about her campaign and really wants to improve things about healthcare in particular. Taystee says there’s no way she can ever change those things asking, “What do you think this is white people politics?” She and Poussey hilariously begin mimicking two stereotypically white women talking about healthcare, veganism, sushi, yoga, wine tasting, and hedge funds. Martiza is running on a platform of getting more pizza. Flaca makes fun of it and says maybe she will run too. Gloria says it doesn’t matter who wins. Flaca says her uncle told her that black people have a different bone density and can’t float or swim. Aleida says that is stupid and Maria says black guys do have different bones in their pants, saying they have big genitals and the cafeteria erupts in celebration. In the kitchen, Nicky enters while Red is cleaning. She asks why Red chose Lorna for WAC. Nicky thought she was Reds number 1 girl. Red says Lorna is nonthreatening and she listens and that Nicky is too mouthy. Mendez is spreading cereal around the kitchen to annoy Red. Once he gets her attention, he opens a box of cereal, pulling out an electric toothbrush. He says, “This prize beats the heck out of a decoder ring”. Red says the girls are concerned about their oral hygiene. Mendez asks if Red is bringing in cell phones too and if she is taking pictures of her vagina. She genuinely doesn’t know what he is talking about. Still, he now he knows that she is able to smuggle in contraband and he says he doesn’t like competition. Daya is in a closet with Bennett. He says it’s inappropriate; he could lose his job and said her mom was naked last time he was in there. Daya wants to know if the two had sex but he wants Daya, not her mom. The two kiss and she pulls his pants down revealing a prosthetic lower left leg. Piper goes to Healy's office. He asks her to pick a dress for his wife to wear on their anniversary. He says if he and Piper work together they can turn some things around at the prison. Healy wants her to run for WAC but Piper wants to stay under the radar and declines. He says he can’t force her to run but he is disappointed. Larry submitted his piece about edging to his boss who doesn’t like it and asks about his situation with Piper. He thinks that would be an interesting story instead and tells Larry to write about that. Pennsatucky is hanging cross posters with Leanne for her campaign. All the other candidates are campaigning to garner votes in the TV room. Lorna is giving out food to garner votes. Piper spots Alex who is still angry with her. Nicky says she should apologize. As they exit separate showers simultaneously, Alex spots Nicky’s chest scar, guessing she had a transplant from Endocarditis, saying the ailment was common among their top customers. She asks if Nicky misses heroin and she does more than anything. Alex says she never committed to being a junkie bus she misses the adrenaline and power from the business aspect of it. They realize they are two sides of the same coin, supply and demand. While Piper waits for the toilet she eyes Alex remorsefully before saying hi and walking away. She then calls Polly who finally answers. She is in the stirrups at the gynecologist. Piper apologizes and they agree never talk about the chicken incident again and say they miss each other. Piper wants to know about their bath product business, and Polly says it’ll be fine. She asks about Alex and Piper thinks she needs to apologize to Alex as well. She says she think it would be easier if they were friends since they are stuck in prison together. Before Polly starts her gynecology exam the two exchange “I love yous” and hang up. Piper cries, and the woman next to her offers a tissue. The campaigning continues in the TV room. All the nominees are on tables and chairs stating their goals. Tricia asks Mendez if he has her drugs but he brushes her off. Claudette says the campaigning is entertaining, and doesn’t know why anyone wants the WAC jobs. However, she admires the effort because every inmate is in there. Piper leaves, knowing she will finally have privacy in the bathroom stall. In there she hears a vibration from the wall and finds a phone. She looks in it and sees the vagina picture that was on the flyer. Back in TV room the inmates are battle rapping: Taystee followed by Leanne and then Poussey. Piper is amazed by how quiet it is in the bunks and Red tells her to go away while she is reading. She goes into Alex’s bed and smells her pillow longingly. Big Boo and Suzanne are dancing in the circle now and the crowd of inmates has gotten rowdy. Mr. Healy turns the lights off to stop the chaos. Out in the yard, Daya gives Bennett a picture she drew for him. She explains that she always liked comics more than Disney princesses in childhood. She also asks if his leg hurts. Bennett says no but he is clumsy sometimes. In the visitors area, Caesar has come to see Aleida. He and another woman keep asking about Daya, and Aleida is offended because they should be there to see her, not Daya. Larry is visiting Piper and tells her that he may write article about their prison experience. She doesn’t like the idea and thinks it really is her experience not theirs. She is concerned that if an article is written, her story will be completely public. Larry asks about Alex, and Piper says they don’t talk. The lady that is always in the bathroom stall enters hugging her boyfriend Diablo who is visiting her. Piper realizes that when she is in the bathroom everyone thinks she is talking to the devil or herself, but she is really talking to Diablo on the phone. Caputo reads the WAC vote tallies to Healy, which includes many votes for Jesus and for “fuck you”. They don’t care about the vote tallies and Healy throws out the ballots. In the dining hall, the inmates are awaiting the results of election. Red made coconut cake for the special occasion. Nicky mouths off to Red about the color of the coconut and is smacked on the head. There is a brief flashback to Nicky’s first days in prison. She is detoxing and crying, and Red comforts her. She says if Nicky starts using again, what Red will do to her will be much worse than her detox. The election winners are announced in the dining hall, and they are different than what was tallied. Winners: Maria Ruiz is surprised, Taystee is excited and a defeated Sophia stomps off, Chang is chosen to represent both the others and the golden girls. Finally it is announced that Piper is the last winner and Morello is angry because Piper did not even run for the position, Pennsatucky also looks angry, while the rest of the inmates look confused. Flashbacks Note: Flashbacks are arranged in chronological order, not the order in which they occur on the show. Nicky Nichols In a flashback, Nicky is asleep in a hospital bed. Her mother wakes her up and tells her she had a bacterial infection in her heart from a dirty needle as well as cocaine in her system. Nicky says maybe she had pneumonia that spread and insists that she is clean. Her mother informs Nicky that she had blood transfusions during her surgery and reveals a huge bandage on Nicky’s chest, indicating she had an open-heart surgery. Nicky’s mother sarcastically says that it must have been a pretty bad case of pneumonia. Her mother tells Nicky she should give up the angry hating-her-mom phase. Nicky sarcastically says she didn’t recognize that she was her mother, as she was largely raised by a nanny who lived with Nicky in an entirely separate apartment from her mother. Nicky’s mother says she did what was good for Nicky, but Nicky disagrees and thinks perhaps she never would have had such a bad drug problem if she had gotten more motherly attention. Ms. Nichols wants her to stop blaming everyone but herself. Nicky says she misses her mom until she is actually there, saying she must have invented the idea that she had a great mom when she was a kid. All Nicky wants is to be held and for her to give her sips of water. Her mother seems to only be there this time because the doctors said Nicky was going to die. Nicky swears she is done with drugs this time for good. The mother sighs, not believing her and exits. Piper Chapman & Alex Vause There is a flashback to a party Alex is throwing at her home. Polly is there and Alex mistakenly calls her Holly. Alex excuses herself for business with Fahri and Polly complains about being called the wrong name. Piper thinks Polly is angry that she’s dating a woman, but Polly just thinks Alex is an asshole. Polly is also suspicious that Alex has so much money at a young age. Piper reiterates that she really likes Alex and is happy. In the other room, Fahri compliments how well Alex has been doing and assigns her to handle a larger amount of product. References Category:Season 1 Episodes